Supercharging mechanism



Dec. 1, 1936. w. s.- BOWEN 7 2,062,859

' SUPERCHARGIfiG MECHANISM Filed June 22, 1954 INVEN TOR.

mum/firmwa e,

-r-ronusvs Patten-reap. 1 1936 W v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE surnacnancmc MECHANISM William SpencerBowen, westfieldg N; J. a Application June 2;, losgserial No. 731,891 3 Claims; 401; 123-11 The present invention relates to internal combustion engines and embodies more specifically, an improved device for improving the eflicienc'y of engines of this type-.- Moreparticularly, the present invention proposes to recover the mois ture in the exhaust gases and decompose the same, supplying the oxygen from such decomposition directly to the air intake of the engineand combining the hydrogen resulting therefrom with the fuel oil to produce" a, highly explosive.

.mixture.

It has been suggested tov decompose water and supply the resulting hydrogen and oxygen to the fuel before it is supplied to an internalocoml5 bustion engine. The present invention, however, supplies the hydrogen and oxygen in an entirelynew manner and in.- such .fashion as to greatly improve the rate of coinbustibd'kfliciency and.

mean effective pressure;

An object of the invention accordingly; is" to j provide a device for improving the combustion-, characteristics of an internal combustion en-' gine.

A. furtherobject ofthe' invention is toprovide '25 a.. device for decomposing waterand supplying the oxygen therefrom to theair'intake of theengine, at the same time combining the hydrogen resultingfrom such decomposition with the fuel,

. oil used in combustion.

A further object of the invention is to provide i a device of the above chara'cterwhe'rein the. hy-

drogen resulting from the decomposition of the water is homogenized with the fuel oil and thus intimately and-explosively mixed therewith.

'35 A further object of the inventionis to :provide' a device of the above character wherein moisture from the exhaust 'of. an internal combus-. t-ion engine is condensed and decomposedelec-. trolytically, the products of such decomposition .40 beingutilized in the-manner above outlined.

Further objects of the invention 'will be -ap-.

parent as it is describedingreater detail in connection with the accompanying drawing-wherein:

. 'Figure 1 is a diagrammatic viewillustrating a 5 l device constructed in accordance Withftliepresent invention.

- Figure 2 is a. detail yiew in sectiorr'taken through the homogenizing-mechanism;

v With reference to -thisflgure,' angengine .is 50..shown'. having a plurality-of cylindersfl andl'2.

' Obviously, the number of cylinders and-heads and. associated .elements constitute no imrtoi!- Each cylinder is piothe present invention. v vided with a piston 3, inletvalvesd and exhaust Eli-valves 5. s

. Fuel is supplied tothe cylinders through a fuel Dipings'ystem of usual construction and from a v fuel pump of 'standardconstruction, in accordance with well known and'jpresent day practice, In the interest of brevity andclearness onl'ygonefg "fuel pipe is shown, being indicated byvthe refre-iff ence' character 6,. This 'pipe is supplied by fuel; from a: fuel pump 1 and directs the fuel into the cylinder I through a suitable nozzle in the hez aid thereof. Air is supplied through the inlet valves 1o? 4 the exhaust from exhaust valves 5 being di'-'- rected through a suitable piping such as indicated at8 to a turbinel9.- Thelturbine drives-an elec- V tric generator, III; through a suitable drive con-f nection eitherdirectly for through gear reduc.- tion-means;

The exhaust from the turbine 9 is directed into-,a'pi-pe II and carried to: a. condenser l2; wherein the moisture in. the exhaust gas is .con-

denseda'nd'the condensatesremoved'from the b condenser through a pipe IS. The dry exhaust gases may be, discharged through an outlet pipe. I l and cooling'flu'id may becirculated through Y the condenser I! by means-of inlet and exhaust pipes l5 .and 'l. 6, respectively; The turbine 1-9 25 drives a homogenizing mechanism l-lwhich com-' prises a chamber at the top of which a spray head isprovided formed with a plurality of edges over whichithe material is forced under great pressure (as by'centrifugalforce), The homogeniz- 0 v ing mechanism is 'of standard construction and,

includes a plurality of blades 11' terminating in Y flanges l'l" having sharpened cutting or shearing edges I'I' by means of which the particles may I be subjected to mechanical shearing action while 5 under great pressure.) In order that the particles" may be subjected to high pressure and a simultaneous-internal shear in passing over'the. e'dges,.

this mechanismf is rotated by' the. turbine-9 and 1 serves to" finely'divide' and'mix-or emulsify thel'46 "substance 'directed' into the mechanism. Fuel,

oil iszthus introduced into the homogenizer l .through an-inlet pipe l8.- The water whiclris condensed inthegondenser l2isdirectedtoanelectrolyticcell lphavingelec-r I trodes 20: and? 2|. These are connectddbFau source of: electric =cu' rrent-' in'; such fashion? The oxygen which is formed and collected at theelectrode 2B is directed through a pipe line 28 and suckeddirectly into the air inlet stream on the suction stroke'of the engine. In this fashion, the atmosphere within the cylinder will be very rich in oxygen. As the hydrogen is sucked into the homogenizer and passes therethrough it is thoroughly emulsified with the fuel oil and will remain in suspension for a sufflcient time to enter the combustion chamber virtually as a single fluid. The fuel pump will compress the oil and entrained gas and force the same under high pressure through a nozzle in the combustion chamber where a sudden reduction of pressure tends to atomize the oil by the expansion of the entrained gas. This effect would be in-' creased by some heating of the mixture of the oil and hydrogen under pressure.

As a result, the maximum temperature will tend to be lowered by keeping the specific heats down, at the same time improving the rate of combustion, eificiency and the mean effective pressure. Obviously, the electric generator it may supply the electric current for'operating the electrolytic cell l9.

While the invention has been described with specific reference to the accompanying drawing, it is not to be limited, save as defined in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. '11 fuel charging device for an internal combustion engine comprising means to supply fuel thereto, means to condense the water vapor in I pose the condensed water vapor into hydrogen and oxygen, means to introduce the oxygen resulting from the decomposition into the air supplied to the engine. means to mix and subject the particles of fuel and hydrogen resulting from the decomposition of the condensed water vapor to internal shear under high pressure, and means to supply the homogenized hydrogen and fuel to the engine under pressure.

3. The method of operating an internal combustion engine comprising condensing the moisture in the engine exhaust, decomposing the condensed moisture into hydrogen and oxygen, introducing the oxygen of decomposition into the air supplied to the engine, mixing the engine fuel with the hydrogen produced by the decomposition, and introducing the mixture of fuel and hydrogen into the engine.

WiLLIAM SPENCER BOWEN. 

